The Circuit: The Complete Saga

by Bruno, Rhett C.

  5

  Chapter Five—Sage

  Sage remained on the medical bed in the White Hand. She’d awoken when restraints popped up to wrap her torso and hold her tightly against the surface.

  At first, she feared the worst, but the ship’s computer quickly informed her that it was just bracing her in advance of landing. After everything she’d recently learned about Cassius, she couldn’t be sure.

  Memories continued to beset her, like her childhood in New Terrene, where she’d struggled without a family for so much of her life until she found purpose as a soldier of the Tribune. Or the first time she’d prayed to the Earth Spirit on her own.

  Everything felt so distant, as if she were watching a video of another girl’s life through a holoscreen. But the more memories that came through, the more the individual ones came into focus. The past she’d chosen to forget was being reconstructed piece by piece.

  It had her head throbbing, though admittedly not as badly as when she’d first woken. She wondered if she was just getting used to it. All she knew was that whenever she turned her neck the wrong way, it caused the fresh scar on the back of it to burn like wildfire.

  Suddenly, the pull of g-forces made her stomach jump. The White Hand was turning hard, likely preparing itself for landing wherever it was headed. The restraints kept her body from sliding off the bed, so for that she was thankful.

  It didn’t take long afterwards to feel the soft vibrations of a proper touchdown along her back. In her experience, only executor-level training could allow a pilot to bring a ship down so gently. Sometimes, she forgot that Cassius had been through the same gauntlet.

  Her restraints slid off promptly, freeing her to stretch her weary limbs. Then the ship’s engines powered off with a whine. They had been operating so smoothly that she hadn’t even noticed the soft hum they produced until it was absent.

  When footsteps echoed from the corridor outside the medical bay, Sage closed her eyes and positioned herself on the bed so that it would seem like she was sleeping. Her reinvigorated nerves were able to hold the flood of memories at bay, allowing her to use breathing techniques to slow her pulse.

  She couldn’t risk the ship’s computer using the holoscreen monitoring her to see right through her ruse. It seemed more advanced than those aboard typical Tribunal vessels.

  “Gaia, how is she?” Cassius asked as he entered the room.

  “Stable. She has been in and out of sleep,” the computer responded.

  It even had a name. The notion that she could somehow remind Cassius of his former loyalties dwindled when she heard that. In the Tribune, that was a punishable offense in its own right.

  “Good,” Cassius replied. “It’s time we got her up and walking.”

  Sage felt his hand graze along the edge of the bed. There was a slight pull on the flesh around the wrist of her human hand as he fiddled with the needle in her veins before pulling it out. She was surprised that she could feel the minor sting that accompanied it. Dulling minor pains was at least one side effect of the implant that she would miss.

  When he was done with that, Cassius removed all the other apparatuses sticking out of her. Focus, Sage, she thought to herself every time he got close. You will not lose faith amongst the faithless. Focus!

  As he moved around to the other side of the bed, her eyes snapped open. She swung with her artificial arm, catching Cassius in the side of the head with just enough force to knock him out and do no more damage. She made sure of that.

  Cassius had done the service of unplugging her from all the machinery, so there was nothing holding her down. She hopped up to her feet, adrenaline helping her ignore how atrophied her legs were.

  She took a step toward the doorway, then glanced back over her shoulder at Cassius. He was on the ground with one limp arm still raised and draped over the bed. A trickle of blood ran down his cheek, but he was breathing fine. She knew what she should do. She knew what she would’ve done if that bomber had never shown up on New Terrene all those months ago.

  I am a knight in the darkness, a vessel of their wisdom. Her vows jumped to the forefront of her foggy mind. I am the silent hand of the Tribune…

  No, I won’t.

  She was through getting involved in the feud between Cassius and the Tribune. She’d known the moment she couldn’t pull the trigger on Titan that it was time to go back to what she did best.

  The renewed memories of Caleb were only serving to make her soft spot for Cassius even more apparent, no matter what he’d done. She simply wanted to forget everything that had happened since she’d left New Terrene. To return there and guard its people. Be the executor of Mars.

  Once she was out of the lab, she glanced both ways down the corridor. She’d been on the White Hand before, but it was under similarly murky circumstances. The layout remained a mystery to her. Down at the end, in one direction, she looked through the same viewport as earlier. The solar-ark was directly adjacent to them now, just a portion of its massive glittering sail visible.

  Wherever they were, she couldn’t risk just moseying out of the cargo hold, but she had to move quickly before Cassius woke up. If this place is secret enough for Cassius to bring the solar-ark, then the stolen freighters might be here also. I’m sure he won’t miss just one.

  Sage started to jog, gaining more confidence in her legs with every slap of her bare feet. It took a wrong turn down toward the engine room and a complete U-turn for her to locate the corridor leading to the cargo bay. As it neared, she slowed down and sidled silently along the wall. There was no telling what might be waiting in there.

  She quickly found there to be nothing. Not even a crate being transported. The exit ramp was lowered. She hurried to the corner and peered out.

  The White Hand was docked in a massive hangar, so long that it put the one on board the Ascendant to shame. The solar-ark took up most of it, fitting perfectly, as if the hangar had been constructed to house it.

  Six smaller ships were lined up in a row beside the White Hand in a lower, offshoot hangar at the back. They appeared to have upgraded armor compared to normal Tribunal freighters, but they were the right size and shape.

  She stayed low as she rushed out of the White Hand and toward the lowered ramp of the nearest freighter. As she sprinted inside, she heard a muffled bang. A bullet glanced off her artificial shoulder. The force of the shot sent her careening onto the ship. The shots that followed peppered the wall right where she had been.

  Scrambling back to her feet, she continued running, shocked that Cassius would actually shoot at her. A few empty storage containers were lying around, and she flung them to block the ramp. Then she made her way through the tight corridors.

  Unlike the White Hand, she could traverse a Tribunal freighter blindfolded. The inside was relatively unchanged. The command deck didn’t take long to reach.

  She stepped in, and as soon as she did, the memory of when she’d raided the Tribunal freighter with Talon accosted her. A sudden feeling of vertigo seized her limbs, causing her to slip and stumbled over a lip in the grated floor.

  She could hear the gunshot that took Vellish’s life echoing again and again in her head. See his face right in front of her, his synthetic nose drenched in sweat from his brow, and his hateful gaze fixed on her before she pulled the trigger.

  Just a memory, Sage told herself. Keep going! She got back to her feet and scrambled over to the command console, activating the ship.

  The floor began to tremble, and at that very moment a portion of the command deck’s viewport shattered. Someone wearing black armor fell through. Sage leapt out of the way as the body slammed down where she’d just been.

  When she flipped over, ready to fight, she hastily realized that there was no man inside the suit. In fact, it wasn’t a suit at all. It was an android, but not the clunky, useless types left chugging along on Ceres Prime. This one moved with the fluidity of an executor. Its eyes shone bright and red, like the core of a planet split open.
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  “What have you done to the Creator?” the abomination asked. Then it charged at her.

  She didn’t even have time to question what it said before it was upon her. It swung down, and she raised her artificial arm to block the blow. It paused after she did, tiny red lights around its eye-lenses beginning to rotate rapidly. She took the opportunity to unsheathe her wrist-blade and swipe. The android sprang back to action, evading the attack easily.

  Before it could counter, Sage rolled backwards and flipped onto her feet. The android bounded forward to reengage her. It moved with lightning quickness, and with only one arm of use against it, Sage was at a severe disadvantage.

  She channeled all her training, staying light on her feet as she danced around a flurry of precise strikes. She repeatedly used her human hand to feign attacks and try to get the android off balance, but none of it worked. It had an answer for every move.

  So she created space between them again to bait the thing. As it sent a punch pistoning toward her head, she sidestepped and slashed at its limb with her wrist-blade. The tip scratched its forearm, but that was all.

  In a move that no human could pull off, it bent backwards at the waist, twisted its entire body, and swept out her legs with a kick. The android then leapt straight up into the air, its head almost striking the ceiling, before plunging toward her. She was barely able to roll out of the way before its knee dented the floor. She swiped again, blindly, but this time the android grabbed her artificial arm and flung her across the room.

  She slammed sideways into a console. Quickly, she rolled over and did her best to track the android as stars danced across her vision. The thing slowly approached her, its hellish eyes smoldering.

  “Come on, creature!” she growled, lifting herself into a battle crouch. Her metal fist tightened as it got closer, the sharp blade fixed to it gleaming blue from holoscreens above. Then, just before she could pounce and try to catch it off guard, Cassius shouted, “ADIM, stop!”

  6

  Chapter Six—Cassius

  “ADIM, stop!” Cassius bellowed from the entranceway of the freighter’s command deck. His unkempt hair was stained by a splotch of blood where Sage had struck him. His finger rested securely around the trigger of his pulse-pistol, even though he kept it aimed at the floor.

  ADIM froze and regarded him. Sage paused for a second before springing at the android. Her attack met only air as ADIM deftly evaded her. He grabbed her by the neck with one hand on her way by, and by the artificial arm with the other, hefting her up and stretching her body. She kicked and punched at him with the two limbs she still had at her disposal, her human fist meeting his chassis with little impact.

  “Let her go,” Cassius commanded. ADIM didn’t listen entirely, but he noticed the android’s grip loosened a bit, enough to allow her to gag.

  “This unit cannot. She will try to harm you again,” ADIM responded. He stared at the blood on Cassius’ head.

  “ADIM, you will let her go,” Cassius demanded more firmly. He stepped beside them and pointed his gun at Sage. “Trust me, she won’t.”

  This time ADIM listened and released her. She fell onto her knees, grasping at her throat as she gasped for air. Cassius kept his aim steady on her as he approached.

  “Impressive, Sage,” he said. “There aren’t many people in the Circuit who thought they could catch me off guard and lived to talk about it. Trust me, it will not happen again.” He pressed the barrel of his gun against her temple.

  “Do it, then,” Sage snarled.

  “Don’t be foolish. Just sheathe your blade and we can talk about this civilly.”

  Sage clenched her jaw; then her blade retreated into her wrist. Cassius had to stop himself from releasing an audible sigh of relief. She then glanced at his pistol and he lowered it.

  Cassius took a step backward, and ADIM quickly positioned himself in between the two of them.

  “So is this thing what you’ve been spending all your exiled years with?” Sage asked. “Some cheap imitation of human life?” She got off her knees and sat against the nearby console. Her bout with ADIM still had her huffing.

  “This thing is ADIM, and you’re lucky I arrived in time to save your life,” Cassius said.

  “Lucky? Do you name all of your abominations?”

  ADIM remained silent. His gaze was fixed on Sage.

  “Only the ones I care about,” Cassius said.

  Sage let out a pitiful sigh. “A part of me still wants to believe I can convince you to stop all of this, Cassius, but my head hurts too much to waste any more breath trying.”

  “And I thought I could convince you to stand with us, but you’re as stubborn as Caleb was.” Cassius put out his hand to help Sage to her feet. “ADIM will not harm you as long as you keep that weapon of yours to yourself.”

  “This unit does not trust her, Creator,” ADIM said.

  “I know. But I do.” Cassius extended his hand a little further. Finally, Sage took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

  “So what now?” she asked. “Am I your prisoner?”

  “Never,” Cassius insisted. “I will allow you to leave. Of course, we’ll be taking precautions to ensure you can’t lead your masters here, but you may return to Titan, where I’m sure Benjar is waiting eagerly. There, he will undoubtedly reinsert your implant, and soon all of this will be another faded memory. If that’s what you want?”

  She took a deep breath and looked to the ground. “I’m sorry, Cassius, but I can’t be a part of this. I made vows, no matter what they might’ve done. I will go and ask His Eminence, Benjar, to allow me to continue my work on New Terrene. I’ll beg if I have to.”

  Despite expecting that very response to his final appeal, it was still hard for Cassius to mask his disappointment. He’d taken a great risk in bringing Sage to Ennomos, but he knew he’d do it again in a heartbeat. Just her mere existence helped him cling to what little was left of his humanity. He needed that. Otherwise he might lose sight of what he was ultimately trying to do.

  “Very well,” Cassius said. “Come, ADIM. Your entrance into this freighter has left it in desperate need of repairs. We must prepare another for her.”

  “That’s it?” Sage questioned, following them from a safe distance.

  “That’s it,” Cassius stated firmly.

  They walked in silence until they were out of the freighter and crossing the hangar toward another.

  “Creator,” ADIM said, slowing Cassius down. Sage gave them a withering glare. “Your gift awaits you inside the Shadow Chariot.” ADIM pointed toward the sleek red and black ship sitting in a small offshoot of the hangar.

  Cassius got on his toes and peered over, but all he could see was the top of the Shadow Chariot’s cockpit.

  “You can show me once we’re finished with this,” he said, placing his hand on the android’s back. “I look forward to it.” They stopped in front of another freighter and Cassius turned to Sage.

  She had stopped halfway between the two ships, staring at the colossal solar-ark. Cassius joined her in admiring it. In space, it was hard to grasp its enormity—the endless vacuum had a way of making all things seem insignificant—but within the hangar it was different. The tremendous space had been designed for the very purpose of holding it, and there was barely a meter to spare on the flanks.

  “By the Spirit, I never realized how massive they are,” Sage said. “How did you accomplish this?”

  “Patience,” Cassius replied.

  A dark edge crept into her tone. “Are you going to destroy them all, Cassius?”

  “Of course not. I’m merely borrowing this vessel in order to help get my point across. When all this is over, it will be returned to its original purpose. I have no desire to see the Circuit die, only evolve.”

  “That’s why you built this place, then, isn’t it? For this ark?”

  Cassius nodded. “We made a rough estimate on its size based on the Titan Conduit Station. Not a bad fit considering.”r />
  “Our calculations were flawless, Creator,” ADIM interjected.

  “Can you believe that this ship was one of the six that in the early days of the Circuit stood between humanity and certain extinction?” Cassius marveled. It was a daunting notion, but he understood that those days were far past, even if most people didn’t. Even if most clung to a dark, narrow past.

  Another shackle now, he thought. Better had we just been put out of our misery.

  “I never thought I’d see—” Sage stopped herself, suddenly turning toward Cassius and appearing as though she’d had an epiphany. “The Keepers. Are they on board?”

  Cassius put on a wry grin. “I was wondering when you’d remember,” he said. “The initial surge of returning memories can make the more recent ones seem distant. Worry not, however. I ensured that your Ceresian acquaintance was not amongst the crew before I relieved them. Remember, I was able to see some of what your masters saw through your eyes. I never forget a face.”

  “Relieved them?” Sage asked.

  “The Keepers fought bravely to defend their tomb. Unfortunately, they could not be swayed to see things my way.”

  Sage opened her mouth to speak, and then decided against whatever she was going to say and pressed on as if nothing had happened. “Are you sure Talon wasn’t there?”

  “Positive. I checked on it personally during the voyage here.”

  “Maybe I should—”

  She took a step toward the solar-ark, but Cassius barred her with an outstretched arm. “Sage, all you will find on that ship is empty metal halls. There are five additional solar-arks traversing the Circuit. He was likely assigned to another.”

  “Then let me check.” She again tried to break past, but he held her back until ADIM arrived, hand upon her shoulder and ready to rip her away forcefully. Just his touch made her shudder, duck away, and abandon the route.